New Forum Member Alaris: LDS & Topic of Interest

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Welcome Alaris,

This is a tough place to be a LDS, but I suspect that I cause some of this problem.

Anyway, if you have not encountered Margaret Barker’s work you should look into it. She is a non-LDS, but was so taken by some of the connections she made and later discovered Hugh Nibley had ALSO made (before she did) that she read all the uniquely LDS scriptures in a day. She has been connected with the CoJCoLDS academic community since then.

Long ago I read a couple of her books including:

The Great Angel: A Study of Israel’s Second God.

There are many LDS reviews of her work and she has spoken at BYU a few times now. Here is a non-LDS review:


I would say that her view and the view of most LDS who interact with her is that ā€œthe Angel of the Lordā€ is the second Person of the Trinity. I would not find it remarkable to discover that SOME of the Biblical references lean away from this, some may lean towards the view you espouse (ā€œthe Angel of the Lordā€ is the third Person of the Trinity), and some I imagine fit better in a more traditional (well, traditional LDS or traditional Catholic) view of angels.

I think we share with our Catholic brothers and sisters a recognition that ā€œscripture does not interpret itself.ā€ There are authoritative interpretations that must align (or be guided by) sacred Tradition (Catholic) or continuing revelation (LDS). As such, I do not think scripture will absolutely point in just one direction for your questions.

In any case, if you have not encountered Margaret Barker’s Temple Theology you should look at some of her works. She has a group of non-LDS fellow researchers and a group of LDS researchers who take inspiration from insights she recently (last 30-40 years) introduced or reintroduced to the academic community.

Charity, TOm
 
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Jesus: ā€œAnd I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.ā€

Joseph Smith: " I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ā€œthey draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.ā€

Emphasis mine. I wonder why it’s hard to be LDS on this forum…

Edit: It’s also not helpful (and telling, honestly) that LDS here pretty much refuse to respond to any criticism whatsoever, no matter how valid. They ignore the criticism, claim unjust discrimination, and move on.
 
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Former LDS here. The LDS church isn’t what it claims to be. It’s a complete fraud started by a conman.
 
another God is coming in the flesh and few will recognize him just as few recognized Jesus Christ.
We will not find common ground here as we believe in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
 
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We will not find common ground in your proposal about the Angel of the Lord.
We LDS do believe that as God is man may become,
We believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen (including creating the angels)
we LDS believe Jehovah / YHWH is the premortal Jesus Christ
We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (he died, rose, and will come to judge on the last day)
linking the identity of the Angel of the LORD to the Holy Ghost AND to his mortal incarnation in the end times.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.
 
Michael is the premortal identity of Adam but he is referred to as Michael again post mortally. Let’s see if my posting access is restored.
 
This is exactly what I am looking for. I won’t have time to do a deep dive until tomorrow at the earliest. Thank you!
 
Thank you very much! No worries on the warm welcome. LDS have their own fuzzy forum trolls who are about as welcoming to non lds. I served my mission in Texas. Try to imagine what a warm reception lds receive in the Bible belt. I’m a big guy so at least they had to muster some courage rather than hide behind the interwebs.

I hope to have time to investigate the information you provided tomorrow. Thank you so much!

Side note to those trying to bait me into a base interaction: If you’re looking for an interaction at that level please look elsewhere. I can link you to a couple of lds forums where plenty are more interested in negative interaction and fewer are looking for a higher interaction and enlightment.
 
@alaris I never gave this topic any thought before you posted the thread, so thanks for contributing something new to the forums! Given that, I don’t have a solid opinion on this yet, though I’m now perusing the Church Fathers to see if this has been fleshed out before. From a cursory reading so far it appears that the Fathers generally agreed that the Angel of the LORD constituted a theophany, specifically a Christological one. This seems to make sense given the Angel of the LORD’s general absence from the New Testament (Christ was incarnate by then).

I’m curious, what leads you to believe that of the three members of the Godhead this must be specifically a theophany of the Holy Ghost? Why not Jesus? Given the LDS teaching laid out in the Endowment a pre-Mortal theophany of Christ in the Old Testament would certainly resonate. It would also align your position with the Early Church Fathers which is something I’ve found many Mormons strive for in an attempt to show continuity between the LDS Church and Apostolic Christianity.
 
Not only does Mormonism not make an ontological distinction between angels and humans, but neither does it make an ontological distinction between humans and deity. There is no difference in being between humans, angels, and gods, only a difference in degree.
Correct. And this belief lines up perfectly with the Bible. Paul speaking to the unconverted Athenians states in Acts 17:29 ā€œSince therefore we are the offspring of Godā€¦ā€ The word ā€œOffspringā€ comes from the greek word ā€œgenosā€ meaning ā€œrace, stock, or kinā€. (See http://biblehub.com/interlinear/acts/17-29.htm)
It’s also why Mormonism teaches that humans, after resurrection and exaltation can become literal gods just as God the Son and God the Father have.
Yes. And again, this lines up with the Bible.

Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

The faithful will inherit from God the Father everything that Christ inherited, including The Father’s divine nature.
 
I see the title and think we are talking LSD.
I’ll get back to you once Dark Side of the Moon stops synching up to The Wizard of Oz (happens when she meets the Scarecrow, btw since it’s the end of the album)🤣!

Like someone else said I couldn’t follow it either. OP, were you talking about the angel Moroni? I may be remembering wrong, but I thought that was where the name ā€œMormonā€ came from.
 
Don’t you think Jesus would have mentioned humans becoming gods if it was true? Wouldn’t that be kind of central to his message?
 
Yes I agree. The constant Mormon bashing is extremely uncharitable. You see it every time a Mormon comes to post…a hoard of otherwise well meaning Catholics descend on the thread and start screeching BE GONE WITH YE YOU UNCLEAN PAGAN, MORMONS AREN’T CHRISTIANS!"

Great way to evangelize guys…

The fact that the Catholic Church doesn’t recognize Mormon baptism is irrelevant to the topic of this thread.

@alaris
There is a tradition that suggests that the Angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate Christ. I think a fairly solid scriptural argument can be made to support this position, but it isn’t popular in Catholic circles. Regardless, it is true that this being speaks as and with the authority of God, and not as a mere messenger. This is the first time I’ve come across the idea that the Angel of the Lord was the Holy Spirit…
 
How?

Was Joesph Smith criminally accused of ā€œglass looking?ā€ Yes.
Is the book of Abraham nothing like he said it was? Yes
Can archeologists find anything that backs up the book of Mormon? No
Was Smith duped by the Kinderhook Plates? Yes

I could go on and on, but there is a reason that only LDS believe in his claims. No one else does. And ā€œfairā€ Mormon preaches to those who are looking to back up what they already believe.
 
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LDS is not Christian.

I think we need to define what a Christian is.

I wouldn’t consider LDS Christian because of lack of belief in the Trinity, among other things.
Well, I couldn’t follow your post, but do let us know when your dig up evidence of the ā€œNephitesā€ or ā€œLamanitesā€.

The authenticity of much of the Bible has been confirmed by non-Christian, secular scholars. The authenticity of the Book of Mormon is 100% rejected by those same scholars, and increasingly by LDS scholars as well. There’s a reason why…
A treasure trove of truth…offer a response to some of the criticisms here if you have such a treasure trove of truth.

P.S. there’s nothing wrong with rebuking people for wrong belief. This is a Catholic forum, and we believe you’re wrong. So do many millions of young Mormons who are heading to the nearest exit sign as quickly as possible…
How?

Was Joesph Smith criminally accused of ā€œglass looking?ā€ Yes.
Is the book of Abraham nothing like he said it was? Yes
Can archeologists find anything that backs up the book of Mormon? No
Was Smith duped by the Kinderhook Plates? Yes

I could go on and on, but there is a reason that only LDS believe in his claims. No one else does, thank God.
Are these off topic? YES! 😄 I am so disappointed in these post that are so unrelated to the OP
 
I didn’t think my question about the relevance to everybody’s daily life about whether the angel of the lord and the Holy Ghost are the same thing was that irrelevant.

I watched the Pope’s documentary…our first Jesuit pope. It talked about what faith means to people in poverty, who are suffering, and who are dying. It talked about faith and it’s relation to the environment and science. Pope Francis mentioned Dostoyevsky (Brothers Karamozov…notes from the underground…the two of his novels I’ve read).

The topic alaris brings up seems to be about finding strange connections in scripture. There will be a disconnect with most Catholics. They won’t know how or why to relate.
 
I really don’t want to get off topic here, but … well … here you go

John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
 
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